Electricity prices regulated by the government are commonplace in Europe, chiefly out of concern for vulnerable consumers. But they also undermine the adoption of innovative demand-response technologies, which are key to integrate higher shares of renewables and electric cars.

A proposed ePrivacy regulation currently under discussion at EU level would hurt new business models in the clean energy sector, which are “almost all” based on the collection and treatment of data by home equipment and smart meters, warns an industry coalition.

Energy companies with more than 200,000 clients will be obliged to provide households with at least one offer comprising dynamic price contracts, under an EU-level agreement reached behind closed doors last week, EURACTIV.com has learned.

EU carbon prices are set to double by 2021 and could quadruple to €55 a tonne by 2030 if the European Union aligns its emissions targets with the Paris Agreement on climate change, according to a new report published on Thursday (26 April).

Switching Europe's aging streetlight network with smart lampposts could slash electricity bills by up to €2.1bn a year and deliver energy savings of between 50-70%. EURACTIV's media partner edie.net reports.

Power grid interconnections and system flexibility are key to integrate bigger shares of renewables. A Franco-Irish research project aims to produce a roadmap to deploy EU power grids that can handle more than 50% of electricity from intermittent renewable sources.

An all-German deal to split Innogy between RWE and E.ON looks set to create a template for European utilities M&A that includes the demise of the integrated model, no more big cross-border deals and a quest for emerging market growth.

Germany's top utilities yesterday (11 March) announced plans to break up Innogy, whose assets will be divided among parent RWE and rival E.ON in the sector's biggest overhaul since a landmark move to exit nuclear power.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved €52.5 million in financing for Swedish battery cell manufacturer Northvolt, a bank executive said on Monday (12 February), part of a European Union push to compete with Asian and US manufacturers.

Initially branded as an Airbus-style consortium, the European battery alliance is more likely to look like a network of smaller industrial and innovation clusters, according to the European Commission Vice-President in charge of the Energy Union, one of the main advocates of the project.

Since 1990, the production of "green" electricity in Germany has increased by 1,000% and export rates, according to preliminary data for 2017, just smashed another record. EURACTIV Poland’s partner WysokieNapiecie.pl reports.

EXCLUSIVE / Households, schools and hospitals that decide to place solar panels on their rooftop could be exposed to the same responsibilities as big energy utilities under new EU electricity market rules currently being drafted in the European Parliament, EURACTIV.com has learned.

When the European Commission tabled its Winter Package of clean energy laws in November 2016, there was a smell of revolution in the air, with Brussels pitching a future where citizens would be empowered to generate their own electricity, consume it locally and sell it back to the grid.

Energy ministers on Monday (18 December) took well over 15 hours to agree common positions on four clean energy draft pieces of EU legislation ahead of a final round of talks in 2018 with the European Parliament and Commission.

EDF and EirGrid, the leading French and Irish energy companies, have won €20 million under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme to develop ways of integrating large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources into the electricity grid.

EXCLUSIVE / A flagship objective to link up 15% of Europe’s electricity networks by 2030 could be scrapped altogether from EU legislation as a number of member states resist a command-and-control approach to energy policy, EURACTIV.com has learned.

A seamless pan-European energy market is still a long way off, but decisive steps can be taken now with stronger regional cooperation and the introduction of cross-border bidding zones for electricity, policymakers and industry experts argue.

The rapid fall in costs of wind and solar power, combined with flexible demand technology, could replace “more than half” of coal and gas-powered electricity in Europe by 2030, according to new research published on Tuesday (21 November).

Ahead of an informal meeting of EU energy and transport ministers in Estonia on Wednesday (20 September), politicians and industry representatives signed the Tallinn e-energy declaration, with the aim of digitising the market even further.

EXCLUSIVE / Grid operators from all over Europe are currently finalising plans to launch a digital information exchange platform that will serve as a basis for developing new digital applications to manage electricity flows, and take up growing amounts of renewable energy.

Draft EU energy legislation aims to make the bloc’s power system more flexible and give consumers more control. But a new study insists that the European Commission’s proposal to create electricity "aggregators" goes too far, and risks distorting the market.

British consumers could enjoy savings worth billions of pounds as a result of major changes to electricity generation, usage and storage, under new plans by the UK government. Westminster also intends to ban sales of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040.